The following framework sets out what Guild Officers will work towards over the next few years. Having an Action Plan in place will enable ideas to develop, provide continuity and ensure the Guild is striving to be a relevant entity for its members.
The vision is of a central administration which can provide resources, educational initiatives and public relations representation advice and support, using resources to best advantage whilst encouraging Districts to be more independent and flexible in what they offer in terms of local day to day ringing.
The Action Plan can be developed in detail as appropriate and will significantly take into account members’ feedback including matters of budget. It will be reviewed annually to monitor progress.
actively seek feedback from members
hold at least 2 all-Guild ringing events each year to encourage all ringers to come together
encourage young ringers to come together to ring, socialise and to participate in ringing contests; advise and remind them of the available financial support via the Training and Development Fund
encourage the districts to be more independent of central control and be flexible in their own ringing programmes and events; support local efforts as required, including reminding Officers and members of the available financial support via the Training and Development Fund
encourage more members to be involved in Guild volunteer efforts resulting in a gentle shift in age profile in the Guild’s activities and administration
offer various training courses, reminding potential applicants of the available financial support via the Training and Development Fund; encourage ‘relevant experience’ volunteer assistance for the courses including administration support
update the website generally, including the inventory of Guild resources available to members, and their location
encourage much wider engagement of the Guild’s website and social media and uptake of the electronic newsletter ‘Weekly News’ to:
enable ‘fresh’ information to be displayed and circulated
ensure enhanced communication with ringers and community
offer positive benefits to visitors to the sites including such as Learning to Ring, information of training events, ringing activities, by taking up the electronic newsletter ‘Weekly News’
continue to consider and work towards the Guild Database of Members
review and support the work of all Committees and Young Ringers’ groups; seek out potential ‘relevant experience’ volunteers and encouraging them to offer help
be a point of contact for all ringing matters for Diocesan and national bodies, the community and the media
review areas of Guild administration and responsibilities to improve effectiveness and remain accountable, including to third parties
Budget: £700
Membership Database
Roger Booth and Andrew Glover have risen to the challenge of getting the membership database up and running and have also started working on the communication channel using Mailchimp. It is chiefly through their superb efforts and enthusiasm that it is now starting to come together. Thank you very much Roger and Andrew.
A newsletter was sent out to members via WINPORT and those who had registered with the Membership database through the Guild Website.
We have 1496 members. About 23% of these so far are registered and the number is growing.
Seek out and encourage more ‘relevant experience’ volunteer assistance for the website Timescale: ongoing
Investigate improved communications channels. Timescale: June 2020
Mailchip has proved to be the most cost-effective and easiest to get working.
Seek out and establish a small group of ‘News Ambassadors’ in local areas to work alongside the Communications Team. Timescale: ongoing
This has not been very effective in practice and may to some extent have been taken over by members’ natural desire to communicate their news by social media directly albeit obviously in an uncoordinated, highly informal manner.
Review GDPR policy and provide relevant training and guidance to key district and guild officers. Timescale: June 2020
A GDPR policy has been formally approved by the Guild and is now in place and may be reviewed on the Guild web-site.
Budget: £0
Work with the safeguarding officer to increase awareness of both the safeguarding policy and review available training for protection of young and vulnerable people. Timescale: January 2021
Push out safeguarding policy to all towers. Timescale: January 2021
Gain knowledge of towers where young ringers are based and work with these towers to maintain and increase easy access to the Young Ringers’ groups training and events, and available financial support. Timescale: March 2021
Assist districts with strategies for recruitment of young ringers at a local level and creation of local young ringers’ groups. Timescale: June 2021
Work with young ringers to develop a programme of Guild events specifically designed for them (outings, competitions etc.). Timescale: June 2022
Budget: £40
Garner available and appropriate resources, including financial, to ensure there is a continuous supply of new ringers and that they are well-trained and motivated for the long term benefit of all. Timescale: June 2022
Consider new opportunities for recruitment initiatives at local level. Timescale: Sept 2021
Learn to ring events. Timescale: March 2022
Investigate opportunities to assist with funding of recruitment and retention. Timescale: March 2022
Identify and publish towers able to train new ringers on behalf of struggling towers, as well as for their own benefit. Timescale: March 2022
Develop ‘new ringer welcome pack’. Timescale: March 2021
Budget: £0
Across the Guild area, support educational initiatives, especially those improving the quality and sustainability of ringing and ringing teaching. Timescale: June 2022
Encourage ‘relevant experience’ volunteer assistance at local training events. Timescale: June 2021
Develop strategies to provide key support for training at district level. Timescale: June 2021
Budget: £150
Consider further action to protect our heritage, including undertaking and archiving audio recordings of bells for future generations, and photographing peal boards and other significant historic artefacts. Timescale: To seek a volunteer or more to gather firstly the audio by end of 2021 and then the peal board pictures using lessons learned from the initial action by end 2022. Help may also be needed from the Comms team.
Develop local training for Steeple keepers to help maintain bells for the future. There is support for this from the S&M workgroup of the Central Council. A spanner’s group is thought to be possible as each towers requirement has a different engineering challenge. Timescale: end 2021
Investigate ways to support local tower maintenance through the BRF, maintenance groups or centralised resources. Timescale: see above
Continue with update and completion of the bell stock survey. A trial is in place to link this to the Dove website Timescale: June 2021
‘Firsts Fortnight’ - Autumn 2019 (October 11th - 27th)
‘First Peal 2022’
Open Day with Mini Ring 2022
Any other significant events to be considered and arranged.
Rev 1.3 23/08/2020